G7 will resist China’s “any coercion” on Taiwan: US official

Group of Seven countries agree on the need to confront “any coercion” by China or efforts to exert control in the Taiwan Strait, a senior U.S. State Department official said on Monday, amid rising tensions around Taiwan.

Concerns over what wealthy G7 nations see as China’s increasingly aggressive stance towards Taiwan and more broadly in the Indo-Pacific region were at the center of talks between the group’s foreign ministers in the Japanese resort city. from Karuizawa.

“The message is the same across the G7: We want to work with China in areas where China is prepared to work with us,” a senior US State Department official told reporters on a conference call.

“We will certainly stand against any coercion, any market manipulation, any effort to change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait,” the official added.

G7 ministers are looking to demonstrate a unified front, especially after recent comments by French President Emmanuel Macron that were perceived in some western capitals as too light on China and provoked a backlash.

After visiting China this month, Macron warned against being dragged into a crisis over Taiwan driven by an “American pace and Chinese overreaction”.

As the only Asian member of the G7, Japan is deeply concerned about any possible action by Beijing against neighboring Taiwan.

Beijing sees Taiwan as Chinese territory and has not renounced the use of force to seize the democratically governed island. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen says only the people of the island can decide their future.

“The impact that the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait has on our country is a fact, but it is also a crucial factor for the broader security of the international community,” Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said after a bilateral meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.